Silver Silence A Psy-Changling Trinity Novel by Nalini Singh
| Silver Silence A Psy-Changling Trinity Novel by Nalini Singh | |
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| Category: Paranormal | |
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Reviewer: James Donald
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| Summary: Characters that spring off the page, a story that grips you and invites you to read more of this rich universe. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 464 | Date: June 2017 |
| Publisher: Gollancz | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1473217577 | |
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Jump straight into a rich and diverse universe at this designated jumping on point. Visit a world of humans, changelings and Psy. The world the books have set in has faced a dramatic change and a new world-order of peace has been declared. The peace is painful and not universally loved. Into this world a bear falls in love with an emotionless Psy – how'd ya reckon it'll turn out?
Nalini Singh's writing is far from perfect. In an early description of a relatively chaste scene she suddenly throws in an absolutely unnecessary description of the main character's throbbing erection. The later sex scenes are brilliant but the run up to a few of them feature moments that are the literary equivalent of a needle being drawn suddenly across a record. For such an experienced writer these jarring moments are a dash of cold water. Further to this the secondary story and fleshing out of that are handled quite poorly. This is a rich world with a long and complex history and the politics of the terrorist actions occurring are interesting so it is a shame that more wasn't put into this.
Oh and one last moan; don't expect any surprises. The plot of the book strictly follows the three part structure and as things reach a wonderful lovely conclusion with a third of the book left you are not shocked in the slightest that things go horribly wrong and things have to start all over again.
Now put all that aside and ignore it.
The primary story is the one that counts. The romance element and very erotic sex scenes are brilliant but they are not the biggest draw for me. Reading the blurbs I was expecting old fashioned sexist romance and I was preparing my bitter response in advance. This isn't what you get. Yes the man is winning the affection of the woman and yes there is a brutality to him but everything is utterly consensual and both leads are equally dominant in every sense.
It is these two characters who draw me in. Valentin has become a very serious man-crush for me. He is just a stunning leading man (ever so slightly the male equivalent of a Mary-Sue… a little too perfect but Singh realises this and she adds in some lovely flaws to keep him real) and I'd pay money to see the author dump the whole of this universe and write more tales of Valentin and his home of Denhome in any genre, setting, time frame or style. Valentin as a Star Fleet captain, Valentin leading his clan to destroy the One Ring, Valentin as a business leader, Valentin as a cop investigating murders in downtown Moscow, Valentin running a day-care centre… He would fit everywhere but only as a leading man.
Valentin is a Bear. I don't mean that he is a hairy homosexual weighing over 18 stone but that as a changeling he is literally a bear when he wishes to be. The bear is another character in and of himself that is seen to live within the man. He is a family man and the undisputed Alpha of his clan. The Bears are fascinating and they are summed up as the group that causes thousands of pounds worth of damage when they come to your club, always pay for it and always get invited back because they are such fun. Every member of the clan is fully rounded and very, very much alive from the little limpet of a cub (good luck getting him off your leg) through to Valentin's big sisters.
Silver is every single bit the measure of Valentin yet utterly different. Both Silver and her grandmother Ena are brilliant and you will adore them. The Mercant family is utterly the opposite of the Bears as they are quiet, reserved, well presented and lacking in any sense of fun. What this book exposes however is that amongst the scheming mess of this world the two families are more alike than the Bears are similar to other Changeling clans or that the Mercants are to other Psy. Loyalty, love, honour, honesty and the importance of protecting your clan ring true for both.
I could throw myself into describing Silver as passionately and verbosely as I have Valentin but I've got to leave you something to read for yourself.
Does the book make me want me to read more about this universe? No.
Does the book make me want to read more about these characters? OH. MY. GOD. YES.
Their development, their interactions, their families… all of it. Any book where a scene of some kids playing in a ball-pool is more interesting than an assassination attempt (not because the assassination was badly handled but because the other scene was just so much fun) is worth revisiting.
Further reading? I've no idea. I'm afraid I am going to play it safe (and probably utterly incorrectly) and say: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Silver Silence A Psy-Changling Trinity Novel by Nalini Singh at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Silver Silence A Psy-Changling Trinity Novel by Nalini Singh at Amazon.com.
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